Got a letter from the folks at Mountain Housetoday. They say that in an effort to ‘protect the Mountain House brand’they are now setting up a policy where dealers cannot sell the #10 canproducts for an amount less than 80% of MSRP. In short, your MountainHouse dealer, if he wishes to remain a dealer, cant discount the stuffmore than 20%. So…if you havent gotten yours yet, you might wannahunt some down before the various vendors raise their prices.
The penalty? Mountain House says they’ll give a warning and then the dealer loses his dealer status.
Personally, I think once the product leaves MH’s facility its fair game, but thats just me.
ANyway, I mention this in case it winds up affecting those group buys you sometimes see bandied about on the various forums.
Moral: buy ’em now while you can get them at good prices.
Why the hell don’t they just sell their product direct to consumers at wholesale prices? There is absolutely no value in the dealer/distributor system. Resellers add cost to the product without adding any value for the consumer. They add value to the producer by insulating them from dealing with returns/customer service, etc. but in general the direct sales model should be used whenever possible, and MH goods are a perfect example of a product that should be sold directly.
Is there any sort of price floor on pouch goodies?
I dont believe so, but I didnt really read the letter that closely and I dont have it handy. However, they only sent me a MSRP sheet for the cans, so maybe that means it doesnt apply to pouches. Part of the reason, I suspect, is because the cans are far more heavily discounted than the pouches.
I’m not really sure how ensuring that your products are extra expensive (MRSPs are a joke) does anything to “protect” your brand. If anything, it’d make dilute your brand as your customers start looking elsewhere for competitive products.
Wondered how long it would take.
This once wasn’t legal, but the SC has said otherwise.